Whenever I don’t want to spend time with NE, I spend time at the Black Market. It’s become a safehaven to me. I’m like a teenager in their local mall after school. I never truly did learn to grow up. The gravel stone crunches under my boots. My hair runs over my face in the wind. The sun is setting into a melancholy slumber over the horizon. Sunsets look less vivid now. I think that’s meaningful. OL thinks it’s sad. “OL!” a young lady calls out for me. She’s much younger than me, fifteen at the most, and her face is still filled with a youthful glow. She’s bony and slim, but most everyone is nowadays. I can’t seem to remember the string of letters that fits her name, but she still seems to remember mine. “Ah, yes. My favorite vendor. What are you selling today?” I ask. I try to smile, but I realize it must look too forced so I frown instead. “Onions and radishes today, ma’am.” She really is still a youthful young girl. I envy the outlook she has on the world. “Would you like some? “I would. How much is half-a-pound?” She thinks to herself and shuffles through her stall for a brown paper bag. She hands it to me, and I take it from her bony hands. I again, force a smile through my teeth. “It’s twelve dollars, half-a-bag.” I was about to ask for the weight, but when I looked around, there didn’t seem to be any scale on her stand. I don’t ask any further. “Twelve dollars? I thought most vegetables were twelve for one pound.” I look at her perplexed. “The dollar is worth less an’ less everyday ma’am. The government’s hirin’ more government workers as we speak. Apparently they’re printin’ more money for the pay,” she whispers to me. She still stays so happy in such dire times. She truly is just like NE. I envy the both of them. “I see. How’s that going for your business?” “Oh, well. It’s going as good as it can in these times. We’ve had an awful lot of people stop comin’ by. Makes me quite sad.” She smiles bitterly. No… not bitterly. Bittersweetly. Smiles big and bittersweetly. Teenagers now are truly more optimistic than I ever was. “Although, I’ve been seeing less vendors here the more buyers there are. Supply and demand workin’ hand-in-hand. I’m gettin’ worried.” “Rumors been circulatin’ ‘bout the government. I don’t believe in those, though. I nod along. She doesn’t ask me if I have any idea, because we both know that no one here will ever have an idea. The government is the only thing that knows what the government is doing, and we both know it’s going to stay the same if the government wants any power in this godforsaken dystopia. It’s practically a wasteland. And that too is a euphemism. “Well, I understand. I’ll take a fourth of the bag instead. Keep the onions and radishes in the same bag. I like them mixed.” I hand her back the brown bag. She nods and scoops them with her gloved fingers. She pours the mixed vegetables into the paper bag and gives it back to me. I pour out a few dollar bills and coins. She counts it to be about six dollars and I move along. I brought twenty dollars to last two people meals for a few days, and I’m already down to fourteen with just veggies. I look through the bag and I see that one of the radishes is spoiled. I debate going back to the girl’s stand to critique her for it, but I decide against it. She’s too optimistic to ruin the light in her eyes for something so trivial.
Characters and majority of the world building is owned by @kainesscanon. All writing owned by me or @retsukimaxxing on Scratch. No AI scrapping, translating, or remixing permitted. Crossposted on A03 under @malmilixx
